There were two parts to this session: the latest on the Protection of Personal Information Act (PoPI), which is now starting to roll out, plus regulations that will be tabled by the Advertising Regulatory Broad (ARB) regarding the management of influencers in advertising and social media.

1. PoPI Act (Protection of Personal Information Act)

Although the PoPI Act has been signed into law, it’s not yet in force. Preparations are underway, however, and it’s advisable for marketers and agencies alike to be aware of the final regulations which were published at the end of 2018. There are already five staff members employed by the Information Regulator (South Africa) to manage this — so it’s just a matter of time. It, therefore, makes sense for us to start implementing the provisions in readiness.

Key points
Here are some key points that were mentioned by Danie Strachan, partner at Adams & Adams Attorneys:

One of the most famous cases that led to a lot of the modern-day thinking about privacy was the case in the 1960s of a Mrs O’Keefe who was photographed shooting a gun. Because of the unusual occurrence of a lady shooting a gun — in those days, at least — the photograph found its way into a newspaper. Mrs O’Keefe successfully sued The Argus for publishing without her permission and the judge said that the publication hadn’t observed her rights to privacy.

The PoPI Act was signed into law in 2014 and final regulations were published at the end of 2018.

We need the legislation so that unscrupulous people may not access or sell our information.

Some of the information is sold onto what is known as the “dark web”, where very unpleasant things are sold eg porn, drugs, guns etc